_O, the Roast Beef_, etc.
In those days, if fleets did presume on the main,
They seldom or never returned back again;
As witness the vaunting Armada of Spain.
_O, the Roast Beef_, etc.
O, then we had stomachs to eat and to fight,
And when wrongs were cooking, to set ourselves right;
But now we're--hum?--I could, but--good night;
_O, the Roast Beef of old England,
And O, the old English Roast Beef_!
_The last four stanzas added by_ RICHARD LOVERIDGE.
* * * * *
THE SNUG LITTLE ISLAND.
Daddy Neptune, one day, to Freedom did say,
If ever I lived upon dry land,
The spot I should hit on would be little Britain!
Says Freedom, "Why, that's my own island!"
O, it's a snug little island!
A right little, tight little island!
Search the globe round, none can be found
So happy as this little island.
Julius Caesar, the Roman, who yielded to no man,
Came by water,--he couldn't come by land;
And Dane, Pict, and Saxon, their homes turned their backs on,
And all for the sake of our island.
O, what a snug little island!
They'd all have a touch at the island!
Some were shot dead, some of them fled,
And some stayed to live on the island.
Then a very great war-man, called Billy the Norman,
Cried, "Drat it, I never liked my land.
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